Picking up a bass from UPS - can you do it?

EagleMoon · #1 05-22-2009, 11:34 AM

I ordered a bass that just arrived at a UPS location about an hour and half away, but yet they're showing the delivery for next Tuesday. Does anyone know if you can pick up a package that's supposed to be home delivered? I'm supposed to go out of town next week and was hoping to get it before then.

elgecko · #2 05-22-2009, 11:35 AM

Call'em and find out

capnsandwich · #3 05-22-2009, 11:40 AM

I've driven down and picked it up before but only after they tried once or twice to drop it off. I was never home at the time so I pretty much had to pick it up. Call them and get the location. Sounds like it may be at the Groveport-Alum Creek Dr. location if it's an hour and a half away from you. They usually say to wait until the truck comes back but in your case it wouldn't be on a truck yet so I'd make sure and call them first just to make sure it's possible.

EagleMoon · #4 05-22-2009, 11:42 AM

I did call them. I was hoping to pick it up before Monday. It just says Columbus for the location. It's still loaded on a truck and will sit there for 3-4 days before I get it. Arghhh!

rcarraher · #5 05-22-2009, 12:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by EagleMoon

I ordered a bass that just arrived at a UPS location about an hour and half away, but yet they're showing the delivery for next Tuesday. Does anyone know if you can pick up a package that's supposed to be home delivered? I'm supposed to go out of town next week and was hoping to get it before then.

UPS has gotten so bad, I had a package being delivered back in Feb. needed it for the weekend. On Tuesday it finally arrives at the distribution center, less than 5 miles from my house yet it was scheduled for delivery Wednesday, the next week! I called them thinking this couldn't be. Yup, it could. I asked them if I could come pick it up. Nope, I got madder than hell, I had ordered this two day air, through a company. Called them, they tell me that if I had used their prefered shipper, FedEx, it would have gone out the next morning but since I used UPS, even tho I paid for two day air, it didn't actually ship until the third day after I ordered it.

I was steaming, but what can you do. Inexpecably, it showed up that Friday, even tho' the UPS web site said it would be the following Wednesday even while I sat with the package in my livingroom.

EagleMoon · #6 05-22-2009, 12:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rcarraher

UPS has gotten so bad, I had a package being delivered back in Feb. needed it for the weekend. On Tuesday it finally arrives at the distribution center, less than 5 miles from my house yet it was scheduled for delivery Wednesday, the next week! I called them thinking this couldn't be. Yup, it could. I asked them if I could come pick it up. Nope, I got madder than hell, I had ordered this two day air, through a company. Called them, they tell me that if I had used their prefered shipper, FedEx, it would have gone out the next morning but since I used UPS, even tho I paid for two day air, it didn't actually ship until the third day after I ordered it.

I was steaming, but what can you do. Inexpecably, it showed up that Friday, even tho' the UPS web site said it would be the following Wednesday even while I sat with the package in my livingroom.

I never use UPS if I can help it. But this time I didn't have a choice. I've gotten more beaten up boxes from them than I can count. I forgot all about the holiday or I would have put off shipping it. It just irritates me.

capnsandwich · #7 05-22-2009, 01:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by EagleMoon

I never use UPS if I can help it. But this time I didn't have a choice. I've gotten more beaten up boxes from them than I can count. I forgot all about the holiday or I would have put off shipping it. It just irritates me.

I was talking to the guy at the place that boxes up my stuff for me and he said that since UPS is union, they're kind of trying to lose customers so that they can go non-union like FedEx. I really didn't understand what he was saying, since I don't get into all that union non-union political nonsense, but I'm guessing that the union is causing UPS to lose money by regulating certain ways that would otherwise be more beneficial and efficient for the company so that they could continue their higher quality standards that they used to be known for. That's just what he was saying but he seems to know the shipping business from what I've heard him saying.

dave64o · #8 05-22-2009, 01:23 PM

I once asked UPS about what I can do when I'm expecting a shipment that I know will require a signature. No one is home during the day so I know I'm going to have an extra day or two delay while I make arrangements to go there to pick it up after they try delivering it. The girl I spoke to said that the rationale is that the someone paid for shipping to a specific address and that they HAVE make at least one attempt to get it there. After that the recipient can make other arrangements.

She also said I could use their depot as the shipping address, attention me, and then it will simply stay there for some amount of time before it gets shipped back to the sender. That sounds at least somewhat convenient since it would save me a day or two on those kinds of shipments, but I haven't tried it since I'm kind of afraid of adding another way for UPS to have a problem with my shipment.

Also, I realize it won't help you this time since it's already been shipped, but it might be worth calling about for future reference.

ggunn · #9 05-22-2009, 02:43 PM

One thing that you have to remember about UPS and other mass shippers is that they handle millions of packages and the system they have in place to manage them is not very flexible, although, all things considered, it is pretty efficient. What may seem like a minor perturbation to you only seems that way because you are only looking at your case in point; from their point of view, locating your individual package once it is in the pipeline is a non-trivial exercise. It's not like the person you are talking to on the phone is sitting there looking at your item and telling you that you can't have it.